WK: Power of Nature - S3 - Episode 20 - Forest Treasure Hunt
by Taismo-89
Summary: Collab with Soul. It's Bite-Size's birthday, and the team organizes a special treasure hunt: finding five of the creatures the team met in his first home, the North American Forest.


The morning light entered the Tortuga HQ's window. This time, the North American Forest was their current location.

The sound of mosquito buzzing woke up Bite-Size inside his bat box. Clearly, it was breakfast time. The bat yawned, and prepared to take off. As he crawled out though, two hands covered his eyes.

"Hey!" he complained. With his hearing, he could hear snickers and giggles.

"Now, hold on, Brownie Boy," his best friend Koki assured. "I want you to count to three. Can you do that?"

There was no other way.

"One… two… three?" Koki opened her hands.

"SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Bite-Size!" The bat stared in awe at the Tortuga-turn-party room. The whole crew was there.

"Wow! Is this all for me?!"

"Sure, silly. In bat age, you would be today, like, 3 years old," Koki explained. "But Luna told me that your closure to Aphrodite's medallion altered your lifespan status. To remain talking as a human, you're now technically aging at our speed."

Bite-Size assumed his human form, placing the medallion on his neck.

"So… how old, exactly, in human years?"

"I would say... nine years. Thrice as old as you are in bat years."

"Wow. I'm one year older than Mina!" he chuckled, as he rushed to embrace Koki.

"And that's not the only surprise we have for today, buddy," she told him, as he looked around. The room was now deserted.

"Hey… where did everybody just go?"

"Why don't you find out?" Koki held up a message orb. Bites pressed the side button.

 _"Happy birthday, our favorite little brown bat!"_ Aviva's hologram exclaimed. _"To celebrate this amazing day, we have set up a challenge and quest for you! We chose five different rendezvous locations in the North American Forest, each with five different creatures. Can you find us in each place and also find the creatures we're with?"_

"Ooo, a birthday treasure hunt! Bring it on, team!" Bites jumped in excitement.

"We were hoping you would say that," Koki replied.

" _In case of an affirmative answer, direct yourself for the Tortuga's shell. Good luck, Bitesy."_ The hologram turned off.

"Okay, let's head on up." Bite-Size brought back his wings.

"Ah ah ah," Koki interrupted. "There's two rules for this quest. You can only be either full bat or full human, and you can't be more than half a kilometer away from your partner… Moi."

"I'm okay with both. If there was someone I would like to spend time with on my birthday, it's my best-friend/big sister, Koki."

"Such a sweetie." The girl Fire Guardian ruffled his hair. "Come on. Let's go up the old fashioned way." Bites took her hand and the two walked to the door to the stairs.

* * *

The two came to the balcony.

"Okay, Bitesy, the first clue is nearby. Think you can find it?"

"With human eyes, easy." The bat-turn-human looked through the flowers. "Ah! Found it!" He pulled the sphere out of a patch of violets. A hologram of Clarissa came up.

 _"Hey, Bites. Here's your first hint. I hunt, but I don't hurry. I sleep on the ground, but not in the ground. And I follow a leader. Follow these clues to find me and Elsa with the first creature. See you there."_ End the recording.

"Hmm... let's see. If it hunts, it's obviously a carnivore, animals that eat just meat. But if it doesn't hurry, it must be one with endurance. It sleeps on the ground, which means it's not a bird of prey. But it doesn't live underground, so not a creature like a mole. And if it follows a leader, it's a social creature. So... it's a wolf!"

"You know your creatures very well, Bite-Size."

"And we are near Howler's den. So let's go find it!" The hologram came back up.

 _"Oh, one more thing. You must get to each creature with only the equipment provided."_ The message ended.

"Okay, there's _three_ rules," Koki corrected herself.

"So how will we get to the den from here?"

"Right there." Koki pointed to the zip line.

"Oh boy! I always wanted to ride the zip line!" Bites grabbed the helmet that was placed nearby and Koki helped him into his harness.

"Hang on to that necklace!" He made sure to tuck the medallion into his shirt before zipping off.

"WOO-HOOOOO!" The two zipped through the trees. "Hey! I see the den! 1 o' clock!" He didn't look ahead fast enough to see a mattress tied to a tree, which he rammed into. "Must be my stop."

"Let me help you down, Bite-Size." Koki unfastened herself and helped him get back onto his feet. The best friends headed to the cave with the wolf pack.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Koki asked.

Bites gave a howl to signal the pack, and prepared his ears to hear anything. A howl was soon heard, and a familiar alpha wolf came out to check the outside.

"Hey there, Howler! Remember us?" The wolf howled and walked up calmly to them. Another wolf followed, then by Elsa.

"You made it!" Clarissa in her wolf form congratulated. "We knew you would get here. Nice job." She nuzzled him.

"And he figured it out all by himself," Koki added. "My little Brownie Boy is very smart."

The wolf pups started coming out. One of them had another sphere.

"Here's the next clue," Elsa stated. Bites retrieved the orb. The hologram that came up was David.

 _"Well done, birthday bat boy. Looks like the first was a breeze. But don't let yourself get cocky. This will get harder as the day continues."_

"I know. If it got easier, then I would be worried." The hologram chuckled.

 _"Okay. Time for the second hint. This creature likes all kinds of things. It doesn't fly, but lives in the trees with their young. And you don't even know it's around. They're that smart. Sam and I adore these ones, and we will be waiting for you. In plain sight, but you won't see us."_ The message winked before turning off.

"Wow, that's a toughy, right?" Then, they saw Elsa and Clarissa were gone. "Elsa? Clarissa?"

"Come on, Brownie Boy. We still have four creatures to find, and we have the whole day to solve this treasure hunt." Koki grabbed Bites' hand.

* * *

An hour passed. In his bat form now, Bite-Size snacked on some yummy mosquitoes, as he remembered the clues.

"Okay. This guy likes all kinds of things… but in what sense?" he remembered as he munched.

"Don't talk as you chew, buddy," Koki giggled. Bites swallowed. "He must mean an omnivore, animals that eat almost anything."

"Oh, that makes sense now," he understood. "It lives in the trees... so it's not a coyote or a bear."

"And it lives with its babies, but it's not a bird or a bat. And he said that you won't even know it's there. Or where David and Sam are for that matter."

"And it's smart. Hmmm... an omnivore creature that lives in the trees with its babies that has stealth and brains..."

Then, they saw something moving in the bushes. Bites went to look, but didn't find anything. He did however notice a striped tail go over the bushes.

"Where have I seen that tail before?" he wondered. Then, it hit him. "Of course! Come on, Koki! I know where to go!"

"Now you sound more excited than me!" Koki chuckled. "However."

"However?"

"Look what's right here." Koki moved some leaves, revealing a deactivated Miniaturizer, the Batronicus and the Butterflier XT. "Guess it's time to make use of the third rule, buddy."

"Never rode the Butterflier before. And I just ate," Bites feared a bit.

"Don't worry. I'll drive the Butterflier." Koki miniaturized and hopped into the pilot seat. "You can handle the Batronicus." Bites in human form went mini size.

"Hey, there's something in my seat." Koki pulled out another message orb. A hologram of Sam came up.

 _"Just a heads up, you better take the Miniaturizer with you,"_ the mutant informed. _"You will need it once you complete this part of the quest."_ The recording ended.

"Okay… but how will we transport it?"

"Here's how." The two secured the shrunken Miniaturizer between the two vehicles with a rope.

"Alright, Brownie Boy. Let's take flight. The treasure hunt's just beginning."

The duo started taking off slowly so Bites could get used to the controls.

* * *

Flying around the branches, they observed the trees closely.

"How hard is it to find a teenager with a shark tail?" Bites complained.

"Let's land for a moment. Right at... that tree!" Koki pointed to a specific tree. The two landed on a branch. The kid noticed something weird about this tree.

"Hmm... Why does this tree have grey leaves? Is it sick? Wait. David said they'd be in plain sight, but we won't see them..." He heard a high pitched sound. Changing into bat form, he flew up to a knothole in the tree. A masked face poked out, scaring him. A laugh followed his squeak.

"Sam?" The mutant laughed again as he removed his raccoon mask. Four real raccoons stuck their heads out too. "And here's the raccoon family!"

"Congratulation, buddy! You found the forest's ninjas!" David's voice was heard.

"Is David in there?"

"Actually, we're on him," Sam corrected with a chuckle.

"Huh?"

"Can I deactivate now?" Bite-Size looked down the tree and saw David's face in the side of the tree. "Asked Aviva for this power suit after reading the Blue and The Grey story. It was perfect for the occasion. But the raccoons tickle." Sam was suddenly tackled by Momma Raccoon.

"Whoa, easy mom! The game is over! You can put your grabby hands to the side now!" Bites and Koki laughed, as they came out of the knothole and climbed down. Sam made sure to hit the deactivation button on David's suit. However, another sphere that was hiding in his branches landed on his head.

"Ow!" The group laughed again. Bites got back to real size and picked up the sphere.

"I'm getting the hang of it. Okay, what's next?"

A hologram came up as M.A.T.I. and Jimmy. The message clapped.

 _ **"You're doing great, pal! Time for the next creature hint!"**_

"I repeat, bring it on."

 _ **"They can live in groups or live alone. It depends on the type. One can eat crustaceans and one can eat others of its family."**_ The message ended.

"Hmm..." That was a toughy. Koki and Bites put their heads together to think. "Wait… wasn't there a kind of fish that did this?"

"Yeah… bass! Largemouths and smallmouths!" Koki snapped her fingers. "So our next stop is to the lake."

"Let's get normal size then. Wouldn't like to be mesed with a fish bait," Bites suggested.

"I'm with ya, Brownie Boy," Koki agreed. Once normal sized, they picked up their mini vehicles and rushed to the lake.

* * *

In the lake, Bite-Size and Koki used the Amphisub to look for bass underwater.

"Smallmouth group nearby." Koki observed everything. "But no holographic sphere to be seen."

"Well, if we don't find one with the smallmouths, maybe we can have a chance of finding with the largemouths."

"So let's hurry. They eat fish, so I fear they can eat the spheres by accident!"

"Good point!" Bites rushed to the controllers. "Look! There's a largemouth!"

"Hey, I know that largemouth! It's Gulpa!" Koki said. "And there's the sphere!" She saw it nearby.

"Uh-oh! She's really close to it!" Bites feared. "We gotta reach it before her!"

"Luckily they left my CPS and the bass power disk here," Koki pointed out. "I'm on it!" Once with the gear on, Koki put her hands out to touch a smallmouth nearby. "Activate Bass Powers!" Once she fully activated, Bites opened up the Amphisub for her to dive.

Koki dove as fast as she could. "Got it!" However, she was still smaller than Gulpa.

"Oh, no! Gulpa won't recognize koki in that bass suit! I gotta do something!" Then, he called for a voice amplifier, and morphing to bat form, squeaked on it. The sound startled Gulpa and called Koki's attention.

"Phew, that was close. thanks, Bites!"

"No problemo! Now let's get up!" Bites brought the Amphisub up to the surface, being followed by her. Then, another Bass Power fellow approached them.

"Nice job, Batty Duo!" Jimmy greeted them. "I tried to get M.A.T.I. to get in this suit, but she was afraid she could get short-circuited."

" **What? These parts are electrical!"** the A.I., who was seated on the dock, argued. " **So what'd ya think of the bass, Bites?"**

"They're really cool! I got now why Gavin likes fishing for them. Just wish they weren't always so… snacky." The grown ups chuckled.

"Go ahead and play that orb, buddy," Jimmy told him. As soon as he pressed the button, Aviva's hologram returned, this time, with Mina by her side.

" _Nice job, buddy!"_ The hybrid smiled. " _You're doing really great! Now, for the next clue. Are you ready?"_

Bites nodded in approval, and so did Koki.

" _Okay. This creature is specialized in one thing: constructing! Its teeth don't stop growing and it swims very well, and its house helped to build other creatures' houses,"_ Aviva gave the clues. " _Follow the river and you'll find it."_

"Wow. It really gets harder as we follow," Koki commented.

"That's what makes it fun, right?" Bites chuckled. Then, he saw that either Jimmy or M.A.T.I. were there. "Okay, this is starting to get annoying… but it's also very intriguing..."

* * *

Following the river, they ended up finding an island of sticks in the middle of a huge pond.

"Okay… let's review the clues: its house helped to build other creatures' homes… its teeth never stop growing..." Koki analyzed it.

"Whoa. Is that what I think it is?" Bite-Size wondered, setting the sub next to the pile.

"Wanna go in?" Koki asked.

"Um, sure. Good thing there's a mask back here." Once he grabbed a mask, he hopped on Koki and they swam in through the secret entrance.

" _Amigos_ , over here!" a miniaturized Aviva called.

"Ha! I knew it: it was beavers! Its den helped to build the lake, where many creatures live, like otters, frogs and fish!"

"Nice job, buddy," Mina chuckled. "Not you though, Buddy." She caressed the beaver pup since she was still normal size. Twig rolled over another messaging orb.

"This is the last one." Bites activated the sphere. Chris's hologram came up.

" _Alright, you're almost there! Just one more to go! And it may be the toughest of all! Ya ready?"_

"Do I need to answer?" Bites chuckled. The hologram changed into Martin.

" _This last creature is small, fast, and a great insect hunter!"_ Ventus came up on the hologram.

" _More than what media portrays, and one of our greatest friends as well!"_

Bites paid attention, but somehow… it seemed really hard.

"Wow.. that's a toughy alright," he mumbled in thought.

"By the way, they wanted us to give you this," Aviva pointed out. She tossed Koki a Power Disk. She smirked at the picture on the front.

"Bites, it's time to fly," she told him.

* * *

The sun was setting in the horizon. Koki flew around the forest with her Bat Suit. Bite-Size ran after her, and was starting to get tired.

"Wow, this treasure hunt's been fun. I can't believe we're on the last creature! But I don't know, seems harder now."

"Not for me," his best friend replied. "I know exactly what they're talking about." She flew ahead of her friend.

"Uh? Koki, wait!" Bites rushed after her. "We can't be that far from each other, remember?" Too late: she disappeared. Bites eventually stopped to catch his breath. He then looked up, to see: a split in a half dead tree?

"Hey… I recognize this place..." He climbed up the trunk, and looked through it. "This was… my old home…" The bat-turn-human than noticed something on the part that was still standing. "Why's there a mirror in here?" He wondered. Then, he took a closer look. "*gasp* Wait a second..." He turned to his bat form. "It's ME! The little brown bat!"

"You're right!" an uproar of cheer startled him. He turned around to see the team in Bat suits (except Sam for DNA safety measures), all his size! "Surprise!"

"Ah-ha-ha! You guys are just awesome!" Bites flew around the team like crazy. "I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier!"

"What do you know? He did take a while to remember. I owe you a power suit," Aviva pointed out to the Kratt Bros.

"Hm… but I gotta ask." Bite-Size stopped flying for a moment. "Why picking me? why picking the brown bat?"

"Well… remember a while ago, when you were worried that your battiness was disappearing, due to the constant contact with Aphrodite's medallion?" Koki told him.

 _*flashback*_

" _Well, as I noticed your birthday was arriving, checking on your DNA, I told the team about this and we all decided to use this treasure hunt to test both your human and bat side. And you did surprise us: your bat side spoke really loud during this whole hunt."_

"Even though you may be aging now as a human, neither you or us will ever forget your roots. Your battiness is and will always be by your side," Koki assured, as the team left the tree to get back to normal size with the Miniaturizer.

"Aw, I love you guys!" Bite-Size returned to his human form to hug them. Koki was the first one to embrace him.

"We love you too, Brownie Boy. Never forget that." The team joined in the hug.

* * *

Later by that night, another party was hosted around that area. A party filled with bat-themed decorations and lights. The team danced around, having a good time.

" _This sure was a birthday I'll never, EVER forget. The Forest Treasure Hunt was pretty fun, and it tested a bunch of my knowledge. But you know the best gift I received today?"_ Bite-Size wrote in the Wild Kratts Diary sitting in a corner. " _The love and caring of my friends. Today, they made me realize that although many things changed in my life since I joined them, the roots of my existence will always remain the same. And this brown bat will never forget where he came from, and how lucky he is of having friends like these."_

Then, Koki called his attention. She gave him something to put on the dead tree: a picture of the team and him in his original form, to place on it. This way, Bites would have one more assurance of his origins. He picked it up and with her help, placed it right in front of this old home.

"Koki?"

"Hm?"

"Can we come back here for my next birthday?"

"Anytime, buddy. Anytime," Koki replied, with a warm smile, before kissing his forehead.

"Hey, the cake and bugs are waiting!" Mina called. The two chuckled and rushed to join in the fun. This was sure the best birthday of Bites' life. One that he would NEVER forget.


End file.
